I Don't Get It

I am a middle school teacher.  I also have a 14 year-old-stepdaughter.  So, I am around teens/preteens A LOT!  I see how they act in the hallway.  I see how they act in the classroom.  I see what they post on Facebook.  And almost daily, one of them does something that completely baffles me.  So, I decided to compile a list of the five things that perplexes me most about today's teenagers.  

1.  Photographs

Kaitlin hates us taking her picture.  Now, part of this I understand, because she's desperate to have her braces off, and I remember not wanting my picture taken with braces, either.  But when my parents wanted pictures of holidays or vacations, I would oblige without too much of a fuss (example: there's a really horrible picture of me in Virginia with my head in a cardboard cow...now that's a good daughter!).  I have to practically beg Kaitlin to let me or Scott take a picture of her!  And if I post any pictures of her on Facebook (even if they're professionally taken) and "tag" her in it, 90% of the time she removes the tag.  And she's GORGEOUS, so you know they're not "bad pictures" (like she claims)!  I would NEVER post anything that I thought made her look bad!  BUT...(and here's where the bafflement comes in)...she and her friends (and many other teens I know) will post hundreds of pictures they took of themselves...posing in the mirror with their phone as the camera, making rediculous faces, etc., many of which aren't the most flattering pictures... So, why the fuss over a decent picture with an amazing camera?!?

2.  Facebook Friends

So, I randomly selected 5 of my Facebook friends my age and averaged their number of friends: 524
I then found 5 of my Facebook friends who are under 18 and averaged their number of friends: 692
Why is our average lower?!  We've been around longer, had more experiences, made friends in college...we should know more people!  Here's the difference: I personally know ALL of my friends.  I can say this with complete honesty, because I went through and double-checked each and every friend....all 637 of them!  Now, some I haven't talked to since middle school, but that's a different post (coming next week, I hope).  But, teens will be friends with people they don't know (which is actually pretty scary to me!).  (Example: Suzy adds Billy, because they're both friends with Katie, but the only reason Katie was friends with Billy was because he's Jason's cousin's older brother...or something along those lines.)  And I know they don't know all of their Facebook friends because they'll play those "like this status and I'll..." games, and will "like" the status of someone they don't know!  So, then that person writes something on their wall along the lines of "I don't know you, but....you're really pretty."  Why?  I don't get it...I really don't.

3.  "Text Me"

I see "Text me" posts ALL OVER Facebook.  I don't get it.  What is that person supposed to text you?  "Ok, I texted you, now what?"  If you want to have a conversation with that person, here's an idea: TEXT THEM!  And, while I'm on the subject of texting, here's a few more:  constant and anti-social texting.  I realize that when I was in middle school and high school I was on the phone for hours a day.  But not ALL of them.  Besides, you had to be.  You couldn't just send out a mass text to all your friends and tell them you and Bobby broke up...you had to call each one individually (or, if you were lucky, you could talk to two friends on three-way) and explain the story and discuss the story with each phone call.  So if you condense all of those phone calls, it was probably close to one hour of total conversation.  But people text from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed.  I don't understand how they have so much to say!  (Then again, I don't have much to say and am attempting to write a blog, go figure!)  And, what's even more odd to me is that groups of teens will get together and text...not talking to each other at all!  Are they texting each other?  Who knows!  What's the point of wasting the gas to drive over to someone else's house when face-to-face communication is not occuring?  Save the money...stay home.  Text them.

4.  Apathy

My students don't care about ANYTHING!  They don't turn in homework; they don't do work in class....they can't even bring a pencil to class on a daily basis!  Calling home doesn't seem to phase them, and they're happy to be sent to SAC (in-school suspension).   They don't put forth any effort, and are therefore willing to fail a class and make their parents pay for summer school.  Are you kidding me?!?  My parents would have killed me for any of the above!!!

5.  Sagging Skinny Jeans

Rediculously self-explanatory.